Chicken droppings cheap fertilizer for U.S. wheat

By Carey Gillam

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - For Kansas farmer Jeff Fowler, planting and fertilizing a new wheat crop this fall is a fowl job. Literally.

As he prepares his southeast Kansas farm fields for planting hard red winter wheat, the primary bread-making grain, Fowler is mixing chicken droppings into the soil.

The reason? Money. Poultry waste, or chicken "litter," is a cheap alternative to the nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers that are key to growing a good wheat crop.

"We just started doing it this year," said Fowler. "It's because the cost of fertilizer is so high."

The benefits of poultry waste as fertilizer have long been known and valued by farmers. But the practice has traditionally been limited to those close to poultry operations.

But now, with commercial fertilizer prices so high -- over $100 an acre in some cases -- farmers far from poultry operations see the economic benefits of buying bird waste, even in light of transportation costs.

"It's a fantastic alternative to fertilizer," said Kansas State University soil specialist Doug Shoup. "Of all manure, it has the highest concentration of nitrogen, good calcium, good sulphur, and a bit of a liming effect. It is a little bit like Miracle Grow."

"There are a lot of producers using this," Shoup said.  Continued...